Four metrics show up on nearly every private fund report. Here's what each one actually measures, how they work together, and where they can mislead you if read in isolation.
Morgan Holycross, Marketing Manager · August 18, 2026
Data sourced from Joe, the private fund performance platform powered by Dakota. Learn More | Request Access
For deal sourcers, staying current on private company activity is critical to spotting active buyers, tracking market trends, and uncovering emerging investment opportunities ahead of competitors.
In July alone, we added more than 1,700 new private company transactions, bringing the total to over 27,900 searchable deals across sectors, industries, and transaction types in Joe powered by Dakota Marketplace.
Inside Joe, you’ll find the transactions tab that provides structured, filterable data on deal types, values, and dates, while our editorial team curates daily updates through the Dakota transactions newsletter, helping you cut through the noise and focus on what matters most.
To ensure the most comprehensive coverage of private market activity, Dakota’s team monitors over 10,000 websites including company websites, newswires, and numerous third-party news providers to capture and verify transaction data as it happens.
Below are the top 10 communication service transactions.
e& has completed the sale of its entire 16.21% stake in Vodafone (roughly 3.94 billion shares) to Vega, an acquisition vehicle owned by the Niel family group, for total proceeds of $5.95 billion at 112.5 GBp per share. The shares were transferred to BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, and Société Générale, who will hold them until Vega completes regulatory approvals, following e&'s termination of its Vodafone Relationship Agreement and board seat.
Sky, part of Comcast, has agreed to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment from ITV plc for up to £1.6 billion (£1.2 billion cash plus Love Productions and up to £0.2 billion in earn-outs), combining free-to-air broadcasting, streaming, and pay TV to create a UK media business accounting for roughly 20% of in-home viewing. ITV channels and ITVX will remain free-to-air with public service commitments intact through 2034, and Sky will enter a £2.1 billion, five-year content supply deal with ITV Studios, with about £200 million in annual cost synergies expected within three years of closing.
Bain Capital and Tillman Global Holdings will invest $1.5 billion in Eaton Fiber, funding its acquisition of Ripple Fiber and next-phase network expansion to bring Verizon fiber broadband to over a million locations outside Verizon's current footprint. Under the wholesale model, Eaton Fiber builds and operates the network while Verizon handles retail sales and customer service, with the deal backed by debt financing led by Societe Generale and SMBC and expected to close by year-end 2026.
Apollo-managed funds have completed the acquisitions of Emerald Holding and Questex, combining them into a scaled B2B experiential events and media platform with roughly 160 events across complementary markets. Emerald shareholders received $5.03 per share in cash (a 42.1% premium, implying an approximately $1.5 billion enterprise value), and Questex CEO Paul Miller now leads the combined company, which will fully integrate over the coming months.
IG Group has agreed to acquire Underdog, the third-largest US prediction markets and daily fantasy sports operator, for up to $1.3 billion (~$1.1 billion upfront in cash and stock, plus a $200 million earnout), gaining Underdog's vertically integrated exchange, brokerage, and clearing licenses to establish itself as a US prediction markets leader. The deal is expected to more than double IG's US revenues and tenfold its US active customers, with completion targeted for late 2026 or early 2027 pending regulatory approvals.
Want to track communication services deal activity like this as it happens? Explore the full transactions tab in Joe for real-time, filterable data on every deal in this sector.
KORE Group Holdings has completed its take-private acquisition by Searchlight Capital Partners and Abry Partners, an all-cash deal valued at approximately $726 million ($9.25 per share), and its stock has been delisted from the NYSE. The transaction gives the IoT connectivity provider greater flexibility to invest in innovation and expand its global capabilities, with CEO Ron Totton and the existing team remaining in place under the new private ownership.
Influence Media Partners, working with BlackRock affiliate funds, will acquire substantially all of Anthem Entertainment's assets—over 24,000 released songs plus 60,000+ unexploited works, film and TV publishing, and master recordings—for over $600 million. The catalog includes hits like "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "Counting Stars" alongside soundtracks from franchises like Spider-Man and Men in Black, with the deal, financed via debt led by Truist, expected to close in Q4 2026.
Thomson Reuters and KKR have formed a joint venture for Thomson Reuters' Global Print business, with KKR-advised capital accounts acquiring a 51% stake for roughly $500 million in gross proceeds while Thomson Reuters retains 49% and keeps intellectual property rights and editorial control. The deal lets Global Print operate with independent investment and focus as a standalone print and ProView eBook business, while sharpening Thomson Reuters' focus on AI solutions for legal, tax, and compliance, with closing expected in Q4 2026.
Lollapalooza Capital, the family office of Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen, has joined AISHE Technology's Series C+ financing round led by Alibaba, part of a cumulative Series C raise of RMB 2.98 billion (~$415 million) for the AI video generation and world model startup. AISHE, founded by former ByteDance AI Lab director Wang Changhu, develops multimodal video models including PixVerse (used in 177 countries) and recently demonstrated a real-time AI game engine at the UN AI for Good Summit.
James Murdoch's Lupa Systems has completed its acquisition of New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network, and Vox from Vox Media, in a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million. The three properties—excluding Eater, Popsugar, SB Nation, The Dodo, and The Verge—will operate as a new Vox Media subsidiary under CEO Jim Bankoff, joining Lupa's existing media holdings that include Art Basel, Tribeca Enterprises, and a stake in JioStar.
At Dakota, we understand how important it is to stay current on deal activity as it happens. That’s why our editorial team continuously monitors the news for real-time updates on platform investments, add-ons, divestitures, and more to deliver daily highlights straight to your inbox through our transactions newsletter.
Inside Joe, the transactions tab provides structured, filterable data with deal dates, types, sectors, and financials, allowing you to build a customized feed that aligns with your focus areas.
Whether you're evaluating a new investment opportunity or tracking trends within a target sector, Joe helps you cut through the noise and focus on what matters most.
For more information on these transactions and a deeper dive into their industries and sub-industries, request access to Joe.
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